We are already fans of Orion Books and their Early Reader range.  As you know, Monkey is only just 4 years old and is not reading for himself yet.  But he loves me to read him books from this series, they keep him entertained.  The stories are simple and as he progresses over the next year I’m looking forward to him reading them back to me!  Our latest addition is The Little Nut Tree by Sally Gardner.

The Little Nut Tree was one of my favourite nursery rhymes growing up, so I was really interested to share this book with Monkey.  Sally Gardner’s book is based on the rhyme, with easy to follow text and rather great illustrations with a Victorian feel to them.

The heroine of The Little Nut Tree is a little girl who receives a little tree for her birthday.  She takes great care in planting it and looking after it through the year.  Monkey got rather excited at this point, as he helped Daddy P to plant our apple tree last year.  He could relate to that part of the story.  I’d be rather happy if our tree bore a silver nutmeg and a golden pear!

The story follows the nursery rhyme really well, and the 51 pages of the tale held Monkey’s attention well.

We found lots of discussion points throughout this book, especially with the introduction of the King of Spain’s daughter!  Does she know Granny and Gramps Mummy??

At the end of the book you can also read The Little Nut Tree nursery rhyme itself too.  It really doesn’t matter if your child doesn’t already know this classic rhyme, and if they do, they will love the extended tale even more.

Another thumbs up, we thoroughly recommend The Little Nut Tree.

disclaimer:  we were sent this book for the purpose of review, our comments remain our own, honest opinions